GOP Gubernatorial Forum in Huntsville

Several candidates in the race for Alabama Governor took part in a controlled forum Wednesday in Huntsville.

Posted: May 9, 2018 6:29 PM

Updated: May 9, 2018 7:43 PM

Posted By: MaryLee Adams

Wednesday in Huntsville a forum, for republican candidates running for governor, to speak about infrastructure and economic growth. Local voters showed up to hear from their favorite candidate and some still undecided hoping today's structured forum would help.

Voter's today heard from Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Evangelist Scott Dawson and Alabama Senator Bill Hightower. The forum lasted about two hours in a very controlled setting. The candidates weren't able to respond to each others answers, only give their own. Voters seemed engaged and ready to get to the polls come June 5th.

"I'm just an ordinary citizen who tries to be active in our state government and in our local government and I think we have a chance this election cycle to bring something different to montgomery and continue to reform this state in a way that we can be proud of."

Kerrick Whisenant believes the state needs to focus on infrastructure, something that was highly talked about in today's forum.

Mayor Battle saying our roads are so bad they have caused major corporations to deter from moving to Alabama. Scott Dawson going as far to say we need a state of emergency to fix our roads and infrastructure. The state's budget also in the forefront today...all candidates agreeing it's a major issue.

Scott Dawson saying that if we have proper budgeting and remove the legislative earmarks from our budget it would free up millions of dollars to go into the roads and infrastructure we're talking about today. Senator Hightower saying we have the worst budgetary system in the nation and thinks we need to be able to free up money for roads with an infrastructure commission.

After today's forum voter's felt confident in saying the few weeks ahead are the most crucial for these candidates.

All of the candidates WAAY 31 spoke with today did make a point to say they wished Governor Ivey would take part in these forums. At the end of Wednesday's forum there was straw poll, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle was the winner based on the crowd's votes.